Hello everybody ^^ *waves* I'm back with another chapter! I had a whole day off today because of the snow, so I decided to update early. :) I hope you liked the last one :D Honestly, I just had to throw in the rave horse thingie. I've always thought it was cute :3 Probably just me though... And I'm seriously considering changing the rating 'T' (mainly because of the language) ...What do y'all think?

27 followers! In three chapters! This is so unrealllll =w= Thank you all so much! I'll keep doing my best for everyone!

I hope you like chapter 4 ^.^

Lucy stared up at the wall of the ancient lettering, thinking for the second time that morning that she had much work ahead of her. She glanced outside, wondering what time it was.

She whipped out one of her silver keys, and pointed it at the empty space in front of her. "Open, Gate of the Clock! Horologium!" A golden magic circle swirled in the air, and a large grandfather clock appeared. "Morning Horologium!"

"Ah, good morning Lucy-san... I say."

"What time is it?" Lucy asked the clock spirit.

"It is... 9:42, I say."

No wonder why I'm so hungry. she thought. "Alright, thank you."

He started to leave, but Lucy quickly said "Wait! Is Virgo doing okay?" The Maiden spirit had been injured during yesterday's fight, and she wanted to make sure she was fine.

Horologium smiled, thinking of lucky he was to have such a caring owner. Too many Celestial Spirit Mages often put their spirits in harm's way, knowing they couldn't die.

But they still feel pain, and Lucy knew.

"She is doing just fine. In fact, she talked about coming to you to ask about her punishment... I say."

Lucy turned off. "Please tell her I have no punishment in mind."

"I'll try. But she will most likely come anyway, I say." He saluted to his owner. "I'd best be going now, I say."

"Thanks again, Horologium!"

"Anytime, Lucy-san."

He slowly vanished, leaving behind nothing but his key.

Lucy sighed, looking back at the carvings. It seemed even more than yesterday. Not only did she have to handwrite these by herself, she had to do it hungry. She sincerely hoped Natsu was looking for something to eat.

"WOOHOO!" Natsu had never ridden a horse before (nor was he sure he was riding one right now) but it felt great! The wind rushing past his face, the way the ground was all blurry beneath him, reminded him much of flying with Happy.

He missed his little friend. He sure hoped he had a good time at the aquarium with Carla. The cat had been saving money for weeks just to go there.

As he approached town, he slowed down a bit, and eased the creature into a trot.

He got some strange looks from the people walking around, but the Dragon Slayer ignored them. He had to get to the guild as soon as possible, but Erza would surely give him a beating if he ran over any citizens.

"Aaaah, home sweet home!" He slid off the creature, and stared up at his newly renovated guild, hand shielding his eyes.

"Friend, this is my guild, and the people in there are my friends too, so you can't kick them." He scowled remembering the bruise the creature gave him just a grew hours before. He leaned down and whispered "You can kick Gray though, I don't mind."

"Hello Natsu. Back from the mission so soon?"

Natsu jumped, and turned around to see the guild's strongest woman, Erza. As usual, she was pulling her mountain of luggage behind her with ease. (No joke.) "Yeah," He said grinning. "Oh, you dealt with the guild already?"

Erza scowled, but just when Natsu was beginning to think she hadn't, she said "That guild was no challenge whatsoever! Even the master was a piece of cake." She shook her head. "If I didn't know better, I'd say dark guilds are getting soft." She scoffed, and muttered "My Heaven's Wheel Armor was more than enough to deal with them."

She beat a whole guild with only one Requip? They must have been pretty weak.

"So, how did the mission with Lucy go?"

"Successful, of course." He snorted. Remembering his partner was hungry, he asked "Do you know what Lucy likes to eat?"

"I'm afraid I don't. But perhaps Mira knows. Lucy may have eaten at the guild before." The Requip Mage glanced at the creature next to Natsu. "What on Earthland is that?"

"My new friend!" He glanced at the guild, wanting to go inside and ask Mirajane about Lucy. "You two get acquainted. I'll go inside right now."

Erza stared at the creature, it's head shaking vigourisly back and forth. She patted its neck and said "I notice you were doing that throughout our conversation as well. You must have strong muscles."

She looked thoughtfully at it for a moment, and suddenly said "I know! I shall make you my pet!" Erza had seen various guild members with their own companions, and had always been secretly jealous. She began dragging her new pet toward the shopping center. "Let us go shopping!"

The creature shook its head back and forth, tears streaming from its eyes. This woman seemed scary!

Her stomach growled, for the third time that morning. Where on Earthland was Natsu? It's been more than an hour since she last saw him...

Her hands were smeared with ink, and they ached from the relentless writing. Lucy grinned, realizing she was almost done.

She put down her equipment and thought I think I'll take a break.

The Mage walked out of the cave, shielding her eyes from the sun. Ah, so warm... She stretched this way and that, basking in the gloriously warm sun for a few minutes.

She then noticed some very strange footprints in the dirt. They were perfectly ovular, and pointed toward town. She knew automatically that they belonged to the strange creature that was with Natsu before. But why would the thing go to town? Natsu didn't just take it to town and leave Lucy by herself in the forest did he?

Of course not. She snorted. He hates transportation. Besides, there's no way he would leave me alone. She took one last stretch and and said "Alright! Now to find some water!" She turned herself to a random direction, and started to walk.

After walking for a few minutes, she finally came upon waterfall, its waters forming a small lake. It sparkled brilliantly in the sun, giving it the appearance of liquid diamonds.

"So pretty!" Lucy awed.

She knelt down by the lake, carefully rolled up her sleeves, and plunged her hands into the water. The area around her hands stained black, then turned clear again as she scrubbed the ink off her fingers.

This would be the perfect place for a picnic. But for a picnic you needed food, and friends, neither of which she had at the moment.

She hoped Natsu would be back soon.

"Oi! Natsu! Ya' finished the mission?"

"Hey Natsu, how did it go?"

"Welcome back, Natsu!"

Multiple cheers greeted Natsu as he walked into his guild, but he ignored them all and strode over to Mirajane, who was behind the bar.

"Hello Natsu! How did the mission go?" The white-haired 21-year-old asked in her cheery voice.

He took the seat right in front of her and said "Great. Listen, what does Lucy like to eat?"

Mirajane put down the dish she was drying off and said "I don't know. She's never eaten here before. But considering her previous life, she may like refined foods." She looked around and said "Where is Lucy? She went on the mission with you, didn't she?"

"Oh, she's still at the forest."

Mira's eyes went dark. "Still?" She half growled.

"Well... Yeah." Natsu could see she was getting angry, but had no idea why.

"Natsu, you did not just leave a girl in the forest by herself."

He panicked, because that was exactly what he had done.

"Um..." He fiddled with his scarf.

She yanked his face close to hers and said "Natsu, you don't ever leave a girl by herself! Ever!" She pushed him back, and he grabbed the table to keep himself from falling off the chair.

The Takeover Mage, who was on the verge of taking over, thrust her finger towards the door and said "Go and get her! Right now!"

"But-"

"NOW!" She promptly threw him by the scarf out the door, and he flew out of sight. She turned around to finish washing the dishes, the whole guild gaping at her. "Honestly." She muttered. "The men in this guild are so dense."

"OW!" Natsu roared, aiming his flames at the sky. He groaned and shook his head, thinking how easy it was to forget that smiley Mirajane was once on par with Erza. He slowly got up. His ass was taking quite the beating today.

As much as he wanted to get back to Lucy, he had to find her something to eat.

He thought back to what Mira said 'Considering her previous life, she may like refined foods.'

What does 'refined' mean again? He wondered.

Aaaaargh! He thought, tugging at his hair. He didn't have time for this!

I know. The Dragon Slayer thought suddenly. I'll just buy her everything.

He waddled over to the nearest convenience store, and asked for one of everything they had.

Lucy moaned. She was practically dead from hunger.

The blonde teenager lay on the floor of the cave, the sound of her stomach filling her head.

She had finished copying down the symbols hours ago. Why wasn't Natsu back yet?

She turned over onto her stomach, her chin on her forearms. Lucy had considered walking back to town, many times, but she had no idea which way to go. Besides, if Natsu came back and didn't find her here, he'd probably burn down the whole forest looking for her.

It's the most beautiful day ever, and instead of enjoying it, I'm dying of hunger. She thought bitterly. Stupid dragon, you're not supposed to keep a princess waiting.

She sat up, and leaned against the wall. I wonder how long the princess had to wait before the dragon came to rescue her.

"MY HORSE IS GONE!" Natsu yelled.

He scratched his head as best he could with the plastic bags hanging from his hands. "Stupid Erza... I bet she took it."

He faced the forest. "Guess I'm gonna have to run." The teenager said to himself. He bolted awkwardly toward the trees, hoping that Lucy was still okay.

"I could've sworn I heard Natsu just now..." Gray muttered to Mirajane. "Dammit... And I wanted to make fun of him too..."

"I thought I did as well... Guess it was just our imaginations!" She said brightly.

"Yeah, maybe." The Ice Mage said, then went back into the guild.

He was definitely here. Mirajanethought to herself. Her eyes flashed, and her hair swirled around her. And he's lucky he isn't anymore, because I might have used Sitris on him.

She turned around, and headed back to the guild

So... Hungry... Lucy thought. She had never gone this long without eating. Never.

Just my luck to die of starvation. She thought bitterly. My parents sure gave me an awful name. The Celestial Spirit Mage looked at the still-shining sun, wondering where her partner had gone.

"RAAAHHH!" Natsu roared. He was almost there! Just hang on Lucy... Just, hang on.

Lucy could've sworn she heard Natsu just now. But she couldn't trust herself, since she was aware she was on the verge of passing out.

Just then, Natsu burst into the cave with a ton of bags in his hand. He was sweating, panting, as if he had just run a few miles nonstop. "Hi Lucy." He grinned. "I'm back."

"Stupid..." She replied weakly. "Where were you?"

"I was at town."

Wrong thing to say. "YOU LEFT ME HERE BY MYSELF?!" She screeched. She quickly kicked him, throwing him on his back. "How could you?!"

Coulda sworn she was outa energy just now. Natsu thought to himself. But at least she's alright. "

Suddenly, she was hugging him. "Idiot... What took you so long?" Her scent filled his nostrils.

"Sorry." He said. Why was it so hot in here? "There were lots of complications." She let go, and he sat up.

Lucy rolled her eyes and said "Right." She glanced at the bags. "So? What did you bring?"

"Food." He handed her the bags, and she took them. "Oof. Heavy." She dropped them on the ground, and knelt, rummaging through their belongings. "Sheesh, you brought everything."

"Uh-huh."

"Where did you get all the money to buy it all? Did you use up your share of the reward?" She took out a sandwich and began wolfing it down.

"Yup." He glanced at her. "Yours too."

Lucy choked, and glared at him. "That was my rent money, stupid!" She whined. "How am I supposed to pay it now?!"

"Don't worry, I left 70,000 for that."

"Stupid." She said again, still eating. "We had 500,000."

He could tell she was relieved. Suddenly, Natsu realized he was hungry himself. "Can I eat some of that?"

Lucy stared. It wasn't like him to ask before taking what he wanted. She shrugged. "Sure, since most of its your money."

The two ate, finishing everything he had brought. They then cleaned up after themselves (as usual, Natsu just burned everything and ate it) and Lucy picked up all her papers.

"Oh, you finished?" Natsu asked.

Lucy rolled her eyes again. "Ages ago."

It's cute when she does that. He thought. Natsu glanced at the papers. "Need help?"

She hesitated, but then said "Sure."

She offered him half, but he just took everything, and began walking toward the guild. Lucy snorted, and followed him.

It was about 5 o'clock when they reached Fairy Tail. Upon walking in, they were enthusiastically greeted by their guild mates. Levy immediately noticed the two, and waved, grinning mischievously. "Hi Lu-chaaaaaaan! How was your mission with-" she winked "Natsu?"

Lucy blushed. "I-it was fine! Nothing happened!"

Then Natsu jumped in and asked the bluenette "Hey Levy! Lucy and I found this in a cave." He put the large stack of papers next to her. "Can you decipher it? Please?"

"Sure, I'll look at it." She sipped her drink."But not right now."

"What?! Why?!" Lucy and Natsu said together.

She grinned. "Did you forget? It's almost time for Fantasia."

Oh gosh, that was a long chapter =w= I should be more consistent with my chapter lengths.

Anyway, I hope you had fun reading this one, because I had fun writing it. xD Mirajane though! I wanna do more scenes like that...

Yay, Fantasia! I've got a LOT planned, so please took forward to the next chapter ^.^ Bye bye!